Broken Green
by Annikaya
Summary: Emerald of the Black Moon family is given a second chance in Crystal Tokyo. But can she be made to see that even she deserves a second chance?
1. Default Chapter

_Sailor Moon does not belong to me and I make no profit from this story. Now, I hope you all enjoy!_

There is a place on Earth where heaven and earth blur, where miracles are commonplace, and a radiant queen bestows light on those she protects. In Crystal Tokyo the queen in so unearthly, so above the scope of human emotion, that she brings back to life those who did not live well. In Crystal Tokyo everyone has a chance.

The first thing she saw were the gates, giant blue-gray structures that towered above her. Beside them was a woman, also taller than her, with long green hair and a slender staff in hand. "Hello Emerald."

Emerald shook her head, feeling disconnected and vague. "Where am I? Do I know you?"

The tall woman smiled faintly. "We are at the gates of time. I am Sailor Pluto, guardian of the gates."

"But...I'm dead." Emerald said thickly. Her throat hurt; bitterness physically abrading her. Despair made her heavy.

"No. You were. Neo-Queen Serenity however thought you deserved another chance, as Wiseman was controlling all of you."

"But...why?" Pluto's eyes were deep and ancient. When she spoke she didn't answer Emerald's question.

"Emerald...Neo-Queen Serenity has brought back many of your companions. Sapphire, Rubius,...Diamond. They've been here longer and they're all three married. They're happy and my queen thinks you can be too. You still have your powers-they're a part of you. But there's not much you can do by yourself."

"What...where do I start?" she felt helpless, alone, adrift. _Diamond._

"Where ever you like. It's easy to start in Crystal Tokyo. It's a utopia." Pluto gestured with the staff and the giant gates swung inward to show the vast brilliance of the pinnacle of the world. The view shifted gradually to street level; the sign at the end broadly proclaimed the street name as if she should know where she was. "Go ahead." Pluto nodded toward the gate.

Emerald eyed the guardian but her face was empty and Emerald stepped through.

_Please review! Reviews power my awesome author's silver crystal. _


	2. Chapter Two

Crystal Tokyo was warm this time of year. The air was bright and fresh and Emerald breathed deeply of light and sunshine, just as she had done every time she'd come to Earth for Diamond. Funny, she hadn't been surprised when that Sailor had told her Diamond had died too. She'd known their plan was failing and even if it hadn't failed in their defeat, they had taken the Earth to have the beauty and their war had destroyed all of that. It was somewhat of a relief to be out of that wobbling house of cards, pretending it was a castle. One problem out of a million solved.  
  
Emerald gazed down the street full of happy passerbys, her feet taking her aimlessly. Where could she go? She shouldn't even be here. She didn't deserve to be. These people were happy and good and she was neither. Was this her punishment? To be alive when she would rather it was just all over? And now it was worse than before for at least before they all knew her for the fraud she was.  
  
She looked up, for the air had become even richer, making her dizzy after the sterile, flat air of Nemesis. It was a park, giant oaks reaching up in freedom and glory. Emerald slid onto a park bench in the shade, for even after all of her ill-fated missions the sun was too bright for eyes used to twilight.  
  
Two little boys chased each other through the trees while a younger girl struggled to catch up. She fell and whimpered, causing the two boys to come back. Together the three headed off toward the large pond and all the ducks. But it isn't like that, she thought, thick green hair falling in front of her eyes, sheltering her briefly from the world. You fall and they keep going because they never noticed you at all. Like Diamond. I wonder who he married. If I had been...what? Prettier? Smarter? Better at magic or more athletic? But she still would have been Emerald. And Emerald was cursed it appeared. Happiness? Happiness had been when Diamond deigned to notice her, or when she first visited Earth, or when Wiseman had given her what she thought was the means to make Diamond notice her.  
  
Suddenly the park and the laughing children and the sunshine was too much and the tears began to blur her vision; she jumped to her feet intending to run away-anywhere away, and she collided with someone.  
  
"Whoa there! Are you alright?"  
  
"I'm fine." She said automatically, harshly as she ducked her head to bring her tears under control.  
  
"Why don't I believe you?"  
  
Startled, she looked up into middling brown eyes in an average but kind face.  
  
"That's what I thought. Why don't you dry your eyes, I'll buy you a cup of coffee, and you can tell me about it."  
  
Emerald wiped at her eyes futily. "I don't want to talk about it."  
  
"Well then I'll talk. Come on."  
  
"Now," the man said as he slid the coffee cup nearer to him, "My name's Matthew Portman. What's yours?"  
  
"Emerald."  
  
"Ah. Hence the hair."  
  
"Oh?" Emerald dragged on green lock around so she could inspect it. "Actually I think my hair's more...lime green. Emerald is darker."  
  
"Maybe so. It's still a pretty name. Unusual too."  
  
"And Matthew isn't?"  
  
"Hey, you even say it right. Most Japanese folks can't seem to wrap their tongues around it."  
  
"I'm not Japanese," she replied, shying away. Then, "If your name isn't Japanese, how'd you come to be in Crystal Tokyo?"  
  
Matthew shrugged, "I work for Chrysler. I'm actually from America. How about you?"  
  
Emerald dropped her eyes to her coffee cup.  
  
"Sorry. I didn't mean to bring up a sore subject. We can just pretend you're the lost princess of...Argabetia and this is part of your disguise."  
  
"What, sitting in a coffee shop?" she asked curiously.  
  
"Yes." He said as if stating irrefutable fact. Emerald laughed softly and it was not the braying, broken laugh of a broken girl, just a soft exhale of air. "That's better. So tell me about your kingdom, your highness. Do you have a castle or a palace?"  
  
"Just a castle. But I have a royal garden and," she paused, thinking. "It's filled with daisies and marigolds."  
  
"Lovely. I've always been partial to dandelions myself."  
  
"Aren't they a weed?"  
  
"I say they're a flower. Tell me more about your castle in...where was it again?"  
  
"Argabeh something?"  
  
"I don't know. It's your country."  
  
"Angie then. The kingdom of Angie. And...our national pastime is chocolate."  
  
"Making or eating?"  
  
"Both." She smiled.  
  
"And where do you fit in?"  
  
Matthew stirred his coffee idly. "I am...well, which sounds better? Loyal family retainer or bodyguard?"  
  
"You could be both. Loyal family bodyguard."  
  
"Indeed. What about the prince? Is there a prince?"  
  
Reality crashed down around Emerald's ears, discordant and painful. "No. I have to go. I mean, well, I have to go. I'm late. Thank you for the coffee. It was nice meeting you." She slid out of the booth and ran away. 


	3. Chapter Three

Just as other cities of Earth, Crystal Tokyo never slept but it, unlike those others, remained safe under the influence of its radiant queen. That wasn't all she did, for the city was gentle and peaceful at night, full of soft lights and tranquil habitation. This didn't help to calm Emerald as the stood on a pedestrian walkway overlooking a tiny river that trickled calmly by.  
  
"Do you need some place to stay?" an older woman had asked her kindly earlier and she had said no. How could that woman have asked? Didn't her senses warn her that she could be contaminated by the darkness of Emerald's soul? Everyone near her had died and she should still be dead. Why was she alive? How did she even dare to breath the same air as these people who were so good and wonderful? Why...why did she have to have such a terrible past? Why hadn't she been born here instead of on a cold, dead rock over a million thousand miles away?  
  
Emerald left the bridge and wandered down a broad avenue lined with homes, windows open to the warm night.  
  
A baby cried from one of those homes and a light flicked on in an upstairs bedroom across the road. "Hush there." A woman's voice came, kind and familiar, and Emerald looked up. The woman was pretty and gentle as she rocked her child and it was a shock to see it was Prizma and entering the baby's room was Sapphire, his hear tousled and a teddy bear in his hand.  
  
"I found her bear."  
  
Emerald watched fascinated and burned with jealousy as Prizma wiggled the bear in front of the child, who giggled. Prizma tucked the bear in next to the girl and Sapphire's arms encircled her waist.  
  
Emerald turned away. It wasn't fair. But then, Sapphire had always been good and so had the sisters. They didn't have evil staining them. They could fit in. They belonged to someone and belonged here. Emerald walked back to the bridge.  
  
She didn't sleep that night, didn't really need to. When the sun rose she used just enough power to change her clothes and, for once, chose not the wear an identical dress but a plain black dress instead. She went back to the park then, trying to understand the peace of the trees, the joy of the children, the contentment of the adults. The sun hurt her eyes but she didn't care as she tried, vainly, to make it seep through her skin to her heart. But it didn't; it only hurt her eyes and made her back warm.  
  
"Does the princess have any pets?"  
  
Emerald jumped, "What? Oh. Umm. A golden retriever I guess. You?"  
  
"I'm a goldfish kinda guy. How does your kingdom fare?"  
  
"Well," she said, considering. "It's a small kingdom but it's good."  
  
Matthew sat down beside her. "Beautiful day."  
  
"Everything's beautiful in Crystal Tokyo. Can't there be just one mosquito or dirty pigeon?" Her tone was wistful and she wished immediately that she hadn't spoken at all.  
  
"We could go on a tour and I could show you all the not-pretty parts." He said. She couldn't tell if he was serious or not.  
  
"I wish I'd grown up here." She said softly but he still heard.  
  
"Tell me about your childhood in your castle. Did you get in trouble a lot? Did you have balls, then run away at the stroke of midnight?"  
  
"Cinderella wasn't a princess." She answered. "I, hmmm, liked to sit on the roof in my very best dress. It would get all dirty and I was never allowed to go to the balls then. So there were all these rumors that I didn't really exist, or that I was invisible, or mad. But you would know that, being my loyal family retainer."  
  
"But you see, I have amnesia. Or perhaps I was serving your family in another capacity out of the country."  
  
"Man of mystery. What were you up to?"  
  
"Hmmm. Tracking a mafia ring that endangered your highness' life of course." He grinned and she laughed. "Oh, hey, I want to show you something." He grabbed her hand and pulled her to her feet.  
  
"Where are we going?" Emerald asked.  
  
Matthew grinned again and continued leading her through the city. Finally they stopped on a large bridge overlooking the sea. "Look down there."  
  
Emerald followed his finger to a black barge loaded down with trash, seagulls swooping over it. "A trash barge?"  
  
Matthew grinned proudly. "One of the not-pretty parts, remember? Will dirty seagulls do instead of pigeons?"  
  
Emerald didn't answer but a smile tugged relentlessly at the corner of her mouth. She looked back down at the barge that was slowly drawing farther away. Even the heavily laden barge, piled high with trash and swooping, dirty seagulls didn't seem so bad here in Crystal Tokyo. And thanks to the magic of the queen, it certainly didn't smell bad.  
  
"Thank you." She said, brushing her hair back.  
  
"No problem. I also know where the flower shop on main takes the dead ones if you're up to more no-pretty."  
  
"That's ok." I'm a not-pretty part. I should be leaving, just like the trash. But I don't want to.  
  
"Take you out for lunch?"  
  
"No, I should go. Thank you." Emerald ran away again.  
  
He doesn't know what I am. If he knew, he wouldn't be around. I'm lying to him. I can't...I can't do this. 


	4. Chapter 4

"Hey, your highness." Emerald jumped. "Hey, you're crying again. That's no good."  
  
"I...I can't!" She lept up again and started to run.  
  
Matthew caught up and grabbed her arm. "Emerald!"  
  
She turned her tear-stained face to him. "I just can't Matthew! I'm...You shouldn't be around me! No one should! You don't know!"  
  
"Yes I do Emerald. No human being deserves to be alone, whether they're from Earth or, or Mars! And you're a good person, whatever you think."  
  
"No. I'm...I'm evil." She whispered.  
  
"Emerald, do you think I'm a good person?"  
  
"Y-yes."  
  
"Well, I like you and that means you're good too."  
  
She laughed soggily through her tears. "I don't think it works that way."  
  
"Why not?" He paused to wipe a tear off her cheek. "Besides. Evil can't have anything to do with love." He paused again. "So, does your castle have a moat?"  
  
Her laughter was full, and loud, and good. Not broken at all. 


	5. Chapter 5

Epilogue

"Mom, why's my name Angie?" She didn't understand why her mom started to laugh but wished she wouldn't. Geez, who else had a mother who was so happy all the time? And her dad calling her mom 'your highness' all the time? How embarrassing!"

_Finis_

_Please review! It totally makes my day when I find out that something I wrote made someone else feel something._


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